[imp] Making large scale changes

[Chuck Hagenbuch]

Quoting Nick Loman <nick@loman.net>:

> Hey list,

Hello! Apologies for taking so long to respond to this; various factors have 
combined in my life lately with the effect that I haven't been very good about 
responding to email.

> I have already decided to base this system on IMP -- my question is, how
> can I customise IMP sufficiently whilst allowing others to benefit from
> any extra features I add in? Obviously the answer is "CVS" but presumably
> I would need to have a discussion with the developers as to how the
> features I anticipate adding might fit with the future direction of the
> product and devise a strategy for merging my changes back in?

The place for such a discussion would be dev@lists.horde.org, the Horde 
development list.

> The alternative is just to branch off and do it myself but I would
> consider that a little inpolite on my behalf given that you guys have
> already given so much to the community.

It certainly would be ideal if non site-specific things that you're doing could 
be integrated back into the main tree.

> * complete customisable template

What exactly do you need in terms of this? More than the current templates 
offer? If so, what, exactly?

> * folder list on mail list page

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

> * interaction with SQL based members directory for searches

Turba will handle this, though I'd need to hear more details on your 
requirements for this.

> * linking e-mail attachments to SQL

Again, I'm unclear on exactly what you mean by this.

> * more advanced filtering capabilities

Than the current filtering system? If it's still done through IMAP and 
portable, then I'd love to see you and Max work this out.

> * multiple "extra" mail accounts integrated into single INBOX (is this
> even possible?)

Do you mean like hotmail, as in pulling in mail from other imap/pop3 accounts? 
If so, I've got code to do this sitting around waiting for me to finish porting 
it to the development tree; it might not make 2.4.0, but it'll happen.

> * link to calendars

Kronolith will handle this. Again, more detailed requirements would be useful.

> * recognition of e-mail types and display of particular icon based on
> recognition by e-mail

Can you explain this one?

> * Netscape 3.0+ higher compatibility

Except for the fact that the current cvs version uses CSS for layout, I think 
we pass this. And the CSS stuff won't keep anything from working; it'll just 
look rather plain.

> * advanced address book capability

Turba.

> * more advanced signature support (e.g. multiple signatures)

What do you mean besides multiple signatures? (I want that, too)

> * user profiles/accounts

This sounds like Gollem (Max's ftp/account manager), but once again, I'd need 
to see more of the requirements to really know what you mean.

> There's more but that's a taster for now. IMP developers' thoughts
> appreciated.

It sounds like a lot of what you need is where we want to go. I'd suggest you 
subscribe to dev@lists.horde.org, and maybe some of the other app mailing lists 
(http://horde.org/mail/ for more details), and continue the discussion, with 
more details and specifics, there. My feeling is that a lot of this will be 
things that we want and can be done mainline. But of course I want to hear what 
you have to say to my comments above. :)

-chuck

--
Charles Hagenbuch, <chuck@horde.org>
"Live, from Washington, where the doctors were telling us what they did, and
 did not, do with Vice President Cheney." -Dan Rather